The Sister in the Lab
by efficacious humorosity
Summary: AU. Booth's sister and her two best friends come to stay with him for the summer. How will her presence influence Booth and Bones' relationship? And how are the three teenagers connected to a murder case? BB
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is my first Bones fic, and though I wish I did, I don't own Bones. Please read and review, and enjoy! **

Chapter 1

"Booth, your decreased blinking rate and increased rate of yawning suggest that you failed to achieve REM sleep last night."

Temperance Brennan glanced sideways at her partner Seeley Booth, concerned, considering that he looked like he was about to keel over and _he_ was the one driving the car. "Huh, what?" Booth said, blinking his eyes rapidly and glancing quickly at Bones. "Sorry, Bones, it's just that my kid sister flew in last night."

"Oh, right," Bones said, realization flashing across her face. "Because your mom is going to Europe for the summer and they didn't want to take her along. She can't be _that_ bad, Booth, you would've mentioned it."

"She's not," he replied, keeping his eyes trained on the road. "But I didn't bank on her two best friends coming with her. She says Mom said she told me, but she most certainly did not. And Emma's not one for lying." He finally pulled into a parking space at the Royal Diner, and Bones opened the door and stepped out of the car.

"Do you think your mom purposefully kept the information from you, or do you think it slipped her mind?" she asked.

"I think she kept it from me on purpose," he muttered, rolling his eyes. "When I called them about it last night, my mom insisted that she told me, but she's a shitty liar. She also claimed that Emma insisted on bringing her friends with her."

"I would really like to meet your sister," Brennan said. "She sounds like a fascinating adolescent."

"She's a person, not a corpse, Bones," Booth told her, holding the door open for her.

"I didn't mean it like that," she sniped. "You said she's interested in forensic anthropology?"

"Yeah," he smiled. "Ever since I told her about you, she's been fascinated by your work. She reads all your books like most teenage girls read Cosmo." Glancing at her, he asked, "Do you really want to meet her, Bones?"

"Yes, of course I do," she replied.

"I can call her right now and see if she and her friends want to come here and meet us for lunch," he suggested, pulling his phone out of his pocket.

"Sure," Brennan chirped.

TSITLTSITLTSITL

Fifteen minutes later, a taxi dropped off three teenagers at the Royal Diner. Brennan, who had been looking out the window, asked, "Is that your sister, Booth?"

He followed her gaze out the window and a smile spread over his face. "Yeah, that is." He waved through the glass, and the girl outside smiled back broadly and waved.

The three teenagers came in through the door, one girl and two boys. "Hey, Seeley," the girl said, wrapping her arms around Booth's shoulders from behind him. She had long brown hair and the same chocolate brown eyes that Booth had. She was short and slim, but Brennan noticed that her muscles were subtly well-formed.

"Emma, this is Dr. Temperance Brennan, my partner," Booth said, grinning in Bones' direction. "Bones, this is my sister, Emma."

"Hi, Dr. Brennan," Emma beamed, extending her hand, which Bones shook. "It's nice to meet you. Seeley's told me so much about you."

"Same here, on both counts," Bones replied. "He tells me that you're very interested in forensic anthropology."

"That I am, but I'm afraid that will have to wait for later," she said. "Let me introduce you to my two best friends. Dr. Brennan, this is Kegan Cromwell and Drew Smith."

"Pleased to meet you, Dr. Brennan," Kegan said. Kegan had shaggy honey brown hair and hazel eyes. He was of average height and scrawny, but Bones noticed that his muscles had nearly the same definition of those of Emma.

"Same here," Drew said. Drew had long dark brown hair and deep brown eyes. He was about the same height as Kegan, but he was more muscular.

"It's a pleasure to meet both of you," Bones smiled. Emma took a seat next to her brother, and Kegan and Drew sat across from her next to Bones. "How was your flight in?"

"It was okay," Emma shrugged, keeping her eyes trained on her menu.

"Don't lie, Emma," Kegan reprimanded her. "It was better than okay. We were in first class and they played Iron Man on the way over. It was pretty freaking awesome."

"Whatever," she replied, rolling her eyes. "You _know_ the only reason my mom booked us in first class was to make up for not taking me to Europe with her."

"And her shitty parenting," Drew muttered, catching the attention of Booth.

"Shitty parenting?" he echoed. Turning on his sister, he asked, "What shitty parenting? I don't remember any shitty parenting."

"New phrase, Seeley," Emma said coolly. "And Mom was probably loads better at raising you. See, you weren't a mistake."

"You're not a mistake, Em," he murmured softly.

"To them, I am," she replied. "You have noticed the large age gap between us, right? That's because they never planned to have me. Mom should be retired right now, not working so she can keep sending me to private school. And she knows that. And she acts like it."

Bones kept silent, but she was wondering whether or not Sweets would be interested in talking to Emma. "Hey," she said brightly. "How about the three of you come to the lab with us?"

"Bones," Booth said, his eyes growing wide, "you don't have to do that. Besides, I'm sure the Squint Squad won't appreciate it-"

"They won't mind, Booth," she interrupted. "Besides, they're family."

"Thanks, Dr. Brennan," Emma said, beaming widely. "That'd be awesome."

"Well, well, well, what have we here?"

Sweets was the first person who caught sight of Emma, Kegan, and Drew and approached them. "I'm Emma Booth," Emma said, shaking his extended hand. "Nice to meet you."

"And I'm Kegan Cromwell, her best friend," Kegan said, flashing a smug glance in Drew's direction.

"I'm Drew Smith, her _real_ best friend," Drew countered, glaring back at Kegan.

"I see," Sweets said, looking thoughtful.

"Uh-oh, I _know_ that face, Sweets," Booth said, rolling his eyes. "That's the face you always make before psychoanalyzing someone. Don't even _think_ about psychoanalyzing my sister."

"Just out of curiosity, why is your sister staying with you?" Sweets asked.

"Our parents are going to Europe for the summer, and they decided not to take Emma with them," Booth replied, eyeing him warily.

"Really?" Sweets asked. "Hmmm. And Kegan and Drew are staying with you as well?" Booth nodded, as Bones, Emma, Kegan, and Drew watched this exchanged with interest. "And you're okay with your sister staying at home alone with two teenage boys while you're at work?"

Booth's jaw tightened and he muttered, "No, not really. But I don't have much of a choice."

"Hold up," Kegan said, holding his hands up defensively. "Drew and I have been best friends with Emma since the seventh grade, and we're going to be juniors in high school in the fall. Seeley should _know_ that we wouldn't dare try anything." Drew bit his lip, but nodded in agreement.

"I do trust you," Booth said. "But that doesn't mean that I like the idea of my baby sis staying at home alone with two hormonal teenage boys."

"I'm not a baby, Seeley," Emma said, rolling her eyes at her older brother.

"Huh," Sweets said. "I find it fascinating that Emma is one of the few that regularly call you by your given name, despite the large age gap between the two of you. Obviously, either of the two of you are very close, or she has no respect for you."

"It better be the former," Booth murmured, his eyes flashing at his sister.

"It is," she confirmed. "Seeley's the father figure in my life, seeing as my father didn't do shit for me."

Sweets' eyes widened and he opened his mouth, probably to make some psychoanalytic comment.

Sensing Booth's alarm, Bones quickly said, "Booth, perhaps your sister and her friends would like to meet the rest of the team and take a deeper look into my job here at the Jeffersonian?"

"Yeah, sounds great," Drew said quickly, before either of the Booth siblings could reply. He seized Emma by the wrist and followed Bones. Frantically, Emma reached back and grabbed Kegan's wrist, and Booth followed reluctantly, looking relieved and frustrated at the same time. Brennan used her key card to get them into a part of the lab that was not currently host to any human remains.

"Aw, no fun human remains?" Emma said, sounding disappointed.

"No, I'm sorry," Bones said apologetically. "I don't think Cam would like it very much if I let the three of you into the same room as a corpse without her explicit permission."

"Damn," Emma muttered, shaking her head.

Kegan playfully slapped her on the back of the head. "Watch your mouth, young lady," he advised teasingly. "It's 'Hoover Dam' to you."

"But that doesn't make any sense," Bones said, looking at the teenage boy curiously. "Why would she use Hoover Dam as an expletive?"

The three teenagers stared blankly back at her. "So," Drew said, "this is what you have to deal with, Seeley."

"Now you feel my pain," Booth moaned. "She takes everything literally."

Suddenly, someone's phone chimed, announcing the arrival of a text message. After Booth, Bones, Drew, Kegan, and Emma all checked their phones, it was determined that it was Emma's phone that had chimed. "Ah, shit," she muttered, scowling and closing her phone before placing it in her pocket again.

"Who is it, Em?" Booth asked, looking worriedly at his younger sister.

Wrinkling her nose, she replied, "Jarhead."

"Jared?" Bones asked, grimacing.

"Unfortunately," Emma muttered.

"That useless hunk of shit," Kegan muttered murderously, and Drew nodded vehemently and agreement.

"Hey," Booth said, alarmed. "I know Jared's not perfect, but that's no reason to slander him."

"Emma," Drew said sternly, turning toward the girl. "You _said _you were going to tell him."

"You didn't, did you?" Kegan questioned, folding his arms tight across his chest and glaring at her.

"No, I haven't," she said meekly, shaking her head. Booth noted worriedly that she was shaking slightly and her eyes were shining. "Last time Jared visited Mom and me, he met some old friends at a bar. He came back drunk. Not just tipsy, but falling-over, shit-for-brains drunk. I yelled at him, for driving home under that condition and for getting caught up in the same thing as Dad, and he… he…"

"He what, Emma?" Booth asked gently.

"He…" she said, her voice thick with emotion.

"He hit her," Kegan finally finished for her, placing a friendly hand on Emma's shoulder. "She had a shiner for a week."

Booth's following eruption resulting in a blue streak long enough to be made into a novel.

"I cannot believe him."

Booth was still muttering under his breath about Jared when he drove Bones back to the Jeffersonian from lunch the next day. "Booth, given your brother's history of drinking-" Bones started, but he cut her off.

"Don't take that literally, Bones," he advised her. "That's not what I meant. I can believe that he would be drunk enough to hit someone. But Emma? Our baby sister? The little girl we both protected from bullies? It's not right."

"No, it isn't, I agree," Bones nodded.

"He's turning into our father," Booth muttered, shaking his head, his knuckles turning white from his tight grip on the steering wheel. "And then for him to act like nothing had happened? He saw her black eye. He knew what he had done. And he didn't even _apologize_. Not that it would have made a difference."

"Kegan and Drew are very protective of Emma," Bones mused aloud. "Almost as protective as you."

He shrugged. "They've been her best friends for years. The three of them are all very close. Of course they're protective of her."

"Kind of like you with me?" she asked curiously.

"Kind of like that," he said, biting his tongue to keep from saying anything else. There was no denying it. Seeley Booth was in love with Temperance Brennan. It was only a matter of time before he snapped.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I still own nothing. Thanks for all the reviews and please keep it up! Enjoy. **

Chapter 2

"Bones! Bones, open up!"

Bones slowly woke up, her eyes lazily opening. Someone was pounding on her door, ordering her to open it.

Booth. Of course.

Climbing out of bed and stretching, she slowly padded her way toward the front door and opened it. "Hi, Booth," she said, leaning against the side of the doorway and yawning widely.

"Come on, Bones, I've got breakfast," he said, smiling and holding up a Dunkin Donuts bag. "We've got a case."

TSTLTSTLTSTLTSTL

"The shape of the pelvis indicates that the victim was female," Bones said aloud to no one in particular. "The bone structure and height indicate that she was between thirteen and seventeen years old."

"Jesus," Booth muttered, running a hand over his face.

"What's your issue?" Cam asked, looking at him curiously.

"Booth is more sensitive to teenage murder victims, especially females, because his sister is staying with him," Bones told her, looking curiously at the corpse. "Where was she found again, Booth?"

"She was found in a dumpster behind the local mall," Booth replied.

"Emma's in town?" Cam said, sounding excited. "Seeley, why didn't you tell me?"

"It's been kind of a hell ride ever since she got in, Cam," Booth told her. "Her best friends came in with her, and I wasn't expecting them."

"Drew and Kegan? Those two boys she was always hanging out with?" Cam asked. When Booth nodded, she said, "But Emma doesn't seem like the type of girl to spring that on you at the last minute."

"She's not," Booth sighed. "Emma says that Mom says she told me. My mother most certainly did not mention this to me."

"Ah," Cam said. "It's your mother that sprung it on you."

"No worries, though," he said. "I love Kegan and Drew like they were my own little brothers, and I trust Emma with them. They'll keep her safe."

"Wait," Bones said suddenly. "What's this?" She reached toward the cheek of the victim with her forceps and extracted something from the rotting flesh of the victim's cheek. She held it up to the light.

"I know what that is," Cam said, her eyes widening as she realized what Bones had found in the girl's cheek. "It's an acrylic nail."

Booth whistled. "Catfight."

TSTLTSTLTSTL

Meanwhile, back at Booth's apartment, the three teenagers were just beginning to stir. Emma was the first one up at around eleven o'clock. Yawning, she grabbed her clothes and stumbled into the bathroom from the guest room. After changing and getting dressed, she proceeded into the kitchen to try to find something to eat. After grabbing a bowl of cereal, she plopped down on the sofa bed between Drew and Kegan in front of the television. "Wake up, you useless lumps," she mumbled, nudging both boys in the back.

Drew groaned, his eyes still closed. "Emma… later."

"Five more minutes," Kegan pleaded.

"No way in hell," she said, turning in the television and spooning some cereal into her mouth. "It's almost noon. Get the hell up."

"Uhmmm," Kegan groaned.

"All right," she said, grinning roguishly. "But just remember, you asked for it." She carefully set her bow of cereal on her lap. Turning toward Kegan, she shoved him off the bed and then turned toward Drew and did the same to him.

"Ow!" Drew complained.

"Holy shit!" Kegan said, landing on the floor with a thump. Sitting up, he pointed an accusing finger at her. "You, Emma Booth, are truly evil."

"That's why you love me!" she chirped happily, spooning some more Trix into her mouth.

"Yeah, that is why we love you," Drew mumbled. His eyes brightened as he jumped up and said, "I call dibs on the shower!"

"No!" Kegan called, running after him.

Emma chuckled at the two of them. "Boys." Suddenly, her cell phone rang in her pocket. She pulled it out and flipped it open. "Hello?"

"_Hey, Emma_," said Booth's voice on the other line. "_I just wanted to check on you and make sure everything was cool_."

"Yeah," she replied. "Everything's good. The boys just woke up though. They're fighting over the shower."

"_Sounds like them_," he chuckled.

"So any cool new cases?" she asked.

"_Yeah, we've got a new case_," he sighed. "_I don't really like it that much though_."

"Why?" she said. "What makes you say that?"

"_The victim is a sixteen year old girl named Riley Evans,_" he replied. "_Usually, the victims don't bother me that much, unless they're a little kid or something, but with you around, I'm more sensitive to dead teenage girls_."

"Aw, I'm sorry, Seeley," she told him.

"_Don't worry about it, Emma,_" he said. "_It looks like she died in a catfight though. We found part of an acrylic nail in her cheek_."

"Ouch," she chuckled. "That's one way to go."

"_We're going to look for anyone at her high school with a broken nail,_" Booth told her.

"No offense, Seeley, but that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard," she sniggered. "First of all, that's going to be a lot of teenage girls to sort through. Second of all, and I don't blame you for not knowing this, it would be unbelievably easy to replace a broken acrylic nail between the time of the murder and now, unless the murder took place five minutes ago. Which I'm assuming it did not."

"_Holy shit. Why didn't we think of that?_"

"Well, I, for one, am glad that you know nothing about acrylic nails," she told him. "And Dr. Brennan doesn't seem like the acrylic nail type."

"_That's for sure. So what should we do?_"

"Why are you asking me?" she asked. "I'm the sixteen year old girl. But I think you should look for someone with a motive rather than someone with a broken nail. Besides, probably about half those girls have broken nails. Obviously, they're not all the murderers of Riley Evans."

"_Thanks, Em. You've been really helpful. Anyway, I've got to go. Bones and I are going to the school. Love you._"

"Love you, too, bro. See you later."

TSTLTSTLTSTL

"Who were you talking to?" Bones asked, coming up behind Booth in the lab.

"Emma," Booth replied. "She pointed out a flaw in our investigation."

"Flaw? What flaw?" Bones asked worriedly.

"It doesn't make any sense for us to look for a girl with a broken acrylic nail," he told her. "Whoever embedded that nail in her cheek could've easily gotten it replaced between the time of the murder and now."

Bones groaned. "Your sister's right. How did she pick up on that if we missed it?"

"She's still in high school, Bones," he reminded her. "It's been some years since we've been surrounded by high school girl with acrylic nails. That is Emma's everyday hell."

"I see," Bones said. "Emma's input could be a useful asset on this case."

"How so, Bones?" he asked.

"Well, it seems that we may find the killer among the student body of Riley's high school," she replied. "We like to think that we can still decipher high school students easily, but in reality, it's been years since we've been in high school. Emma, Drew, and Kegan all have that high school mentality, though they may be atypical. Perhaps their take on things will prove to be useful on this case."

TSTLTSTLTSTL

"Hey, Emma, I'm home," Booth said, coming through the door of his apartment.

"Hey, Seeley," she said, coming out of the guest room. "Drew and Kegan are getting lattes from Starbucks. Can I talk to you about something?"

"Yeah, sure," he said, taking off his jacket and sitting down on the couch. Emma sat next to him. "What's up?"

"It's about Dr. Brennan," she told him. "When are you going to make a move on her?" Booth opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, she cut him off. "Don't even try to lie to me, Seeley. I can tell when you like a girl, I could always tell. And you don't like Dr. Brennan, Seeley. You _love_ her."

"How did you know?" he sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"I'm your little sister," she said. "I can read you like an open book. Your body language toward her… it screams love. And the way your pupils dilate when you look at her."

"Em," he said, "how the hell did you notice my pupils dilating?"

"I'm an observant girl," she said smugly, "if I do say so myself."

"Fine," he huffed. "I love her, okay? What do you want me to do?"

"What do I want you to do? _What do I want you to do_?" she spluttered. "You should confess on bended knee with a shining diamond ring in your hand!"

"What?" he said, looking at her, bewildered. "You want me to propose her?"

"No, ignore that," she instructed him. "I've been reading too many romance books. But you should tell her, Booth. One or both of you could die any day, especially given your line of work."

"You don't understand, Emma," he groaned. "You're just a kid, okay? You don't know what it's like."

"I know enough," she said coolly. "I know what it's like to have such a close relationship with someone that you feel like you simply can't risk it for something more, because if you lose it, you'll lose part of yourself. I know what it's like when the person you want to be with is difficult for you to understand at times, okay? I know what it's like."

"Yeah, I'm beginning to get that vibe," he said dryly. "Just one question. _How_ do you know?"

"I don't feel like talking about it, Seeley," she muttered, getting up from the couch and heading into the kitchen.

"Oh, so my emotions are fair game, but yours aren't?" he questioned.

"First of all, love is a choice, not an emotion," she corrected him. "Second of all, yes, that is how it works."

"Emma, are you sure you don't want to talk about it?" he said. "You know I'm always here for you, right?"

"Yeah, I know that, Seeley," she said really quietly. "But… it's something I've got to work out myself, okay?"

"All right, sure, sis," he said, sounding uncertain.

"But," she said, cheering up visibly, "as for you, you need to tell Dr. Brennan how you really feel."

"Ha," he laughed mirthlessly. "No way. And you can't make me."

"Wanna bet?" she said, smiling deviously.

"Actually…" he said, "no, I don't want to bet. You're a brilliant girl, Em, and I am _not_ going to put my ass on the line for my pride. Promise me you won't interfere with this."

"No, I refuse to make such a promise," she said, shaking her head firmly, her lips tightly.

"Emma," he said, his voice bordering on pleading, "please. Please, promise me."

"Fine," she huffed, turning toward him and holding up her right hand. "I, Emma Isabelle Booth, promise not to interfere in your relationship with Dr. Temperance Brennan, whom you call Bones."

"Thanks, Emma," he said. "I'm going to go relax in my room, okay?"

"Okay, Seeley," she replied. He left and narrowly missed the mischievous grin spreading across her face. And he never saw her fingers crossed behind her back.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Don't own, don't sue. Please review! Ha, that rhymed. :D **

Chapter 3

"Hey, Bones," Booth said, calling his partner on his cell phone.

"_Hey, Booth_," she said. "_Did you find something on the case_?"

"Actually, no," he said. "This is a personal favor that I'm calling in." He was playing absentmindedly with one of the boys' baseballs (probably Kegan's, he was far more into baseball than Drew was), and he could only think of his sister's plight at the moment.

"_Of course. What do you need me to do?_" Bones said immediately.

"It's Emma," he breathed softly into the phone, lowering his voice so that Emma, who was in her guest room with Kegan and Drew, wouldn't hear him. "I'm worried about her."

"_What's wrong?_" she asked, sounding alarmed.

"No, no, nothing's really wrong," he replied quickly. "It's just… she loves someone. And she doesn't want to tell me. Probably because I'm her protective older brother whom she thinks will beat the shit out of any boy who goes after her."

"_Which sounds pretty accurate to me,_" Bones commented.

"Not helping," he said. "I think she needs someone to talk to her. Another female."

"_Oh,_" Bones said, finally catching on to what he was saying. "_Why me? You know I'm not good with people._ _Why not Angela?_"

"She doesn't really know Angela," he told her. "And I know she just met you a few days ago, but she really looks up to you and she admires what you do. She'll listen to you."

"_But Booth, I don't understand the inner workings of the mind of a teenage boy!_" she protested. "_And you do!_"

"Please, Bones?" he pleaded. "I really need your help on this."

She sighed audibly on the other end of the line. "_Sure, I'll do it, Booth. I'll be over there to pick her up and take her to the diner or something in about twenty minutes._"

He grinned into the phone. "Thanks, Bones, you're the best."

TSTLTSTL

"So… I don't really understand what I'm doing here," Emma said, grinning at Brennan over her Diet Coke. "I mean… I know that you know that I really look up to you and admire what you do, but I have a feeling that that isn't the reason you brought me out to dinner."

"You're right, it's not," Brennan told her.

"So, Doctor Brennan-" she said, but Brennan cut her off.

"Please, call me Brennan or Bones," she told her.

"Well, Seeley seems to the be the only one who calls you Bones, so I won't ruin that. So, _Brennan_, why are we here?" Emma asked her.

"Booth asked me to talk to you," Bones told her, stirring her straw in her glass of water. "He says you love someone."

Emma blushed a furious red color. "Um… yeah. I kind of alluded to that with him earlier. But I refused to tell him."

"You do trust him, right?" Brennan asked. "I'm just trying to get my facts straight, but as far as I can tell, you trust him a lot."

"I do," she said, nodding eagerly. "I just don't want to tell him because he's my protective older brother. He'll probably kick the ass of whatever guy goes after me."

Bones smiled softly. "Yes, he figured that out," she said. Sighing, she told the teenage girl in front of her, "Look, I'm not really the right person for this stuff. I'm not a good person to have a girl-talk with. I'd recommend Angela, but you don't know her, and Booth says you really look up to me."

"That's fine, I understand," Emma grinned. "I don't really need advice… I just need someone to listen with judging and without being biased."

"Now _that_ I can do," Brennan said. "Go on ahead."

"It's Kegan," Emma said.

"Kegan," Bones mused aloud. "He has the light brown hair, right?"

"Yeah, that's him," she replied. "And I don't want to sound like I'm gushing over him or anything, but… he's just incredibly intelligent, and good-looking, and he's such a great friend. I can always talk to him about anything. And we can do anything together and just have a great time no matter what."

"That sounds like a good connection to have with someone," she told her. "Most of my relationships are purely physical, but the ones that had lasting quality were intellectual as well."

Emma raised her eyebrows, thinking about her brother, but said nothing. "So. That's about it."

"Do you have any plans to make Kegan aware of your feelings?" Brennan asked, cringing at the fact that she was relying on emotions rather than facts.

"Nope, no plans as of present," Emma shrugged. "I think I'm just waiting to see what happens. Especially with homecoming this year."

"Homecoming," Brennan sighed reminiscently. "I never actually went while I was in high school."

Emma nearly choked on the piece of her burger that she had been swallowing. "What?" she gaped, after she finished her coughing fit. "You _never_ went to homecoming while you were in high school?"

Brennan shook her head. "I never really fit in, and I never saw the point in going to a meaningless social function."

"That's a shame," Emma said, shaking her head as she ate a couple fries. "Even if you don't fit in, homecoming is part of the high school experience. The past two years I've gone with Kegan and Drew." Looking up at Brennan, she asked, "My brother told me that you were a foster child, so I know high school must've been extremely hard for you, in terms of socializing and moving all the time. Do you ever wish you could experience a normal high school?"

She nodded. "All the time, Emma. All the time."

TSTLTSTL

"It's a shame the family wasn't able to tell us much about their daughter," said Bones. Booth and Bones had questioned the parents of the dead Riley Evans, but they admitted that neither of them were close to their daughter and they would most likely be unable to provide any useful information. The next day, Bones and Booth went to poke around in Riley's high school. The secretary at the front office pointed them in the direction of the principal's office.

Once they reached it, Booth rapped his knuckles on the door. "Principal Sommers?" he called. A blonde woman in the room who had been leaning over the desk, stood straight and whipped her head around. Booth pulled out his badge and flashed it at her. "I'm Special Agent Seeley Booth with the FBI. This is my partner, Dr. Brennan, and she's a forensic anthropologist. We're here to investigate the murder of Riley Evans."

"Oh, of course," the woman said. "I'm actually not Principal Sommers. I'm the vice principal here, and my name is Karen Thompson. Jane is speaking to janitor at the moment. I'll let her know you're here."

"Thank you," Booth said, and Karen left. Turning to Bones, he said, "We're just going to do some standard questioning. Ask her about Riley Evans in general, if she had any enemies. Stuff like that."

"Okay," Bones said, using the spare time they had to quickly glance over the principal's office. "She's married… and she has… three kids, by the looks of it."

"How do you know all that?" Booth asked, looking startled.

Bones pointed at a picture that was on the desk, depicting a brunette woman and a black haired man and three children. "The picture," Bones replied.

"Ah," he said simply, feeling foolish. "How long does it take to find the principal now?"

"Here? Not long," said a voice. Both Booth and Bones turned at the sound and found themselves face to face with a tall brunette woman, the one from the picture. "Hi, I'm Mrs. Sommers. I understand you're here to investigate the murder of Riley."

"Yes, that is why we're here," Booth said, flashing his badge. "I'm Special Agent Seeley Booth, and this is my partner, Dr. Brennan. She's a forensic anthropologist."

"It's nice to meet both of you," Mrs. Sommers said. "Of course, not under the circumstances."

"Right, so let's get down to business," Booth said. "Can you describe Riley Evans for me?"

"Physically or personality-wise?" she asked.

"Personality."

"She was a cheerleader, so naturally, she was very popular," Mrs. Sommers said. "But she wasn't the bitchy kind of girl. She was so sweet to everyone, and it was a genuine sweetness. She wasn't any sort of genius, but she was a straight B student. She was excellent in chemistry."

"Did she have any enemies?" Booth asked, looking intently at the woman in front of him.

"None that I know of," Mrs. Sommers replied. "Like I said, she was so sweet to everyone. I can't think of a single person that would want to kill her."

"Can you give us the names of any of her friends?" Bones asked, speaking up. "Perhaps they'll be able to give us more information."

"Of course," Mrs. Sommers said. "She had plenty of friends, but I do remember one girl that she was particularly close to. Her name is Jennifer Smith."

TSTLTSTL

"So any breaks on the case, Seeley?"

That night, Kegan, Emma, and Drew joined Booth and Bones at a Wong Foo's for dinner. "Nothing much," Booth replied. "We visited the family and the high school today and talked to the principal. We're going to talk to her best friend tomorrow."

"She was a cheerleader," Bones added.

"Ugh," Emma said, wrinkling her nose. "I hate cheerleaders."

"Em, don't generalize," Booth said.

"I meant I hate the stereotypical cheerleader, Seeley," Emma replied, rolling her eyes. "You know, the bitchy kind on television."

"I find it fascinating that you don't chastise her for her use of foul language," Bones mused aloud. Glancing at Emma, she said, "Not that I think you should be, necessarily. But I pegged Booth for the protective sort of older brother."

"I am," Booth said. "But I also realize that she's sixteen, and she's naturally going to curse. She's growing up. I have to let her do so."

"Then why are you so damn protective of me all the freaking time?" Emma demanded. "You freak out when I so much as get kicked at karate."

"Whoa, simmer down there, Emma," Kegan said.

"Yeah, this conversation just took a turn for tension, party of five," Drew chimed in.

Ignoring the boys' comments, Booth said, "Because I don't want you to get hurt, Emma. You're my little sister, it's a natural instinct."

"Yeah, well," she muttered, looking down. "Apparently not for Jared."

The table fell into an awkward silent. "You sure know how to kill a mood, Emma," Kegan commented dryly. Booth opened his mouth to tell Kegan that this was no time for sarcasm, but then he saw the smile spreading across his sister's face. He may be her older brother, but they were her best friends. And Kegan knew that she needed someone to crack a joke, so she could pretend like it was nothing and they could all move on with their lives.

"So, Seeley," Emma said, spooning some of her soup into her mouth. "What exactly is in this soup? It's the best damn thing I've tasted in years."

"Trust me," Bones told her quickly. "You probably don't want to know. But Sid knows what he's doing."

"Do I want to know what's in mine?" Kegan asked, poking at what looked like beef.

"All you need to know is that what you're tasting right now can taste you back," Booth said, a smirk spreading across his face. Kegan frowned down at his meal for a moment.

Then he shrugged. "Whatever," he said. "Food's food."

"I will never understand boys," Emma said, shaking her head.

"It's an anthropological phenomenon," Bones said helpfully. "It's a shared trait of every culture that the two genders have difficulty understanding one another."

"That's fascinating," Emma said earnestly.

"You know, Bones," Booth said, "I have a feeling Emma's the one person outside of the lab that you can talk to about anthropology without boring to death."

"Actually, Booth, it's scientifically impossible to bore someone to death," Bones informed him.

Drew grinned apologetically at Booth. "I pity you, Seeley."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Don't own, don't sue. Please leave a review, they're much appreciated. **

Chapter 4

The next morning, Emma started frying bacon in a pan while waiting for the boys to get up. She figured it would be an incentive for them to get out of bed before noon. "Hey, future squint" said a deep voice. She didn't turn at the sound; she already knew who it was.

"Hey, Kegan," she said. "Looks like it worked." Kegan and Drew had taken to calling her a 'future squint' ever since her obsession with forensic anthropology and science in general became obvious.

"Yeah, the smell of bacon is always a good way to get me out of bed, just for future reference," he grinned, coming to stand next to her in boxers and a faded navy blue t-shirt. "Need any help? Unless you're planning on the three of us eating just bacon, of course."

"I was going to make scrambled eggs, too," she admitted.

Grinning, he headed for the fridge and pulled out six eggs. Searching for a bowl, he said, "I'm on it."

"Are you sure you can do it?" she asked doubtfully, looking at him out of the corner of her eye. "I mean, you can't cook, Kegan."

"Emma," he said, glaring at her. "It's scrambled eggs. _Everyone_ knows how to make scrambled eggs."

"Point taken," she chuckled, flipping over the strips of bacon. "Man, my brother is loaded with enough breakfast food to franchise an IHOP."

"You've got that damn right," Kegan said. He had finally found a bowl and he was now cracking the eggs.

"Where's Drew?" she asked.

"In the shower," he replied. "I let him have it first today since I tripped him so I could beat him to it yesterday."

"You two are vicious," she commented, shaking her head.

"You know you would've done the exact same thing," he protested.

"You're right," she admitted. Pointing her spatula at him, she added, "But that, my friend, is why I make it a point to wake up and beat both of you to the bathroom."

He chuckled, and they fell into a comfortable silence. After a few moments, Emma spluttered out, "Look, Kee, I'm just going to be honest with you. I like you, okay? A lot. And as more than a friend. But you should know that it's not going to affect our friendship at all. So… now that I've got that off my chest, let's just move on."

"Wait," he said after a few moments. "You like me?"

"Yeah, that's what I just said." He began to chuckle. Blushing and turning to glare at him, she demanded, "What's so damn funny?"

"Leave it to you to just blurt it out of nowhere, Em," he said, grinning sideways at her. "Well, you should know… that I like you too."

"You do?" she asked, for clarification.

"Yeah," he said, and he was suddenly in a very close proximity to her. "I do." She could feel his warm breath washing over her cheek, and she shuddered. His warm lips brushed against her cheek. She froze in what she was doing and slowly turned to face him, her brown eyes locking onto his hazel ones. Slowly, she set her spatula down, her intent clearly written upon her face. He knew what she was going to do.

But he beat her to it.

He bent his head so that his lips met hers. The kiss was sweet and gentle; there was nothing demanding about it. One of his hands lifted to gently cup her cheek as he pulled back, a soft smile spreading across his face. He took a step back, intending to give her some space, but Emma had other ideas. She stepped toward him and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, bringing his mouth down to hers. Her lips moved against his, and, despite his shock, he responded appropriately. Cautiously, he ran his tongue across the seam of her lips: a request. She heartily granted her permission, opening her mouth to him, and her tongue brushed against his, causing him to shudder. He wrapped his arms around her waist, cradling her body close to his. He wished the moment would never end.

However, the smell of burning bacon caused her to jump away from him. "Shit," she muttered, quickly turning off the stove and taking the pan off of the hot surface. She then grimaced at the burned meat.

"It'll be fine," Kegan assured her. "Drew and I scarf down our food so fast we hardly taste it anyway." She grinned up at him, and he pressed a sweet kiss to her brow. He moved his lips to her cheekbone and slowly dragged them back toward her mouth. He paused so that their noses were touching and their breath was mingling, and he said, "Emma Booth, would you do me the great honor of being my girlfriend?"

She said nothing, but she smiled and pressed her lips to his, thrusting her tongue into his mouth with force that caught him by surprise. He moaned, wrapping his arms around her waist again and pulling her closer so that her chest was pressed up against his. He gently pulled her bottom lip into his mouth, causing her to gasp audibly.

When the need for air became absolute, she pulled away wordlessly and went back to making breakfast, a broad grin spread across her face. Kegan merely looked confused. "Wait," he said, his voice thick. "What does that mean in future squint speak?"

She grinned at him and said, "It means yes."

Drew chose that moment to come out of the bathroom, shaking his head of wet hair. "What smells like burning bacon?"

TSTLTSTL

"I just can't believe she's dead!" wailed the blonde girl in front of Booth and Bones. The girl's name was Jennifer Smith, and she was the best friend of the deceased Riley Evans. Jennifer had been the head cheerleader, and she had been the same cheerleader to recommend Riley for the squad.

"We're both very sorry for your loss," Booth said as soothingly as possibly, handing her a box of tissues. "And we understand this must be very hard for you, but we need to ask you a few questions."

"Of course," Jennifer choked out through her tears, wiping away her running mascara with a tissue. "Anything I can do to help."

"Did Riley have any enemies that you can think of?" Bones asked, cocking her head curiously at the girl.

"Well, Riley was one of the most popular girls in school, so usually people get pretty jealous of girls like that," Jennifer replied. "But not Riley. She was so sweet, so nice to everyone. I can't think of anyone who would want to kill her."

Booth and Bones exchanged glances. Had it been a rape?

"What other close friends did Riley have?" Booth asked softly.

"Oh, she had tons of friends," Jennifer replied. "But she wasn't personally close to many of them. Just me and her boyfriend."

"What's her boyfriend's name?" Booth asked. "We're going to need to question him as well."

"His name was Tony Ansley. He's the captain of the football team," the girl replied.

"What about… Riley's relationship with her parents?" Bones asked, remembering how little the couple had known about their daughter's activities.

"They were very strict," Jennifer said. "Mostly about grades. She was supposed to make at least a B+ in every class, otherwise, they wouldn't let her cheer. And Riley loved cheerleading. They freaked out when progress reports came out and she was only getting a 75 in chemistry. They told her that if she didn't pull it up by the end of the quarter, they'd make her quit," Widening her eyes, she added, "But her parents loved her. They would never kill her, and they just wanted what was best for her. Neither of them are drinkers, and they never so much as spanked her as a child. And she loved them too. She would never get into any sort of physical fight with them."

"All right, shhh, it's okay," Booth said, as the girl began to cry harder. "Thanks for your time."

And then they left.

TSTLTSTLTSTL

"So what do you make of that?" Bones asked in the car on the way back to the Jeffersonian. "Do you think the parents had a motive to do it?"

"No," Booth said. "I mean, they might've been strict about grades, but they didn't seem like the type to become violent when angry, much less to kill their own daughter. Besides, if it was possibly that the parents did it, the first person to point it out would probably be the victim's best friend. But she did exactly the opposite."

Glancing at the file, Bones said, "It says here that Jennifer Smith is an orphan, who's living with her aunt and uncle. She says that she knew Riley from the time they were toddlers. I'm sure Mr. and Mrs. Evans were like surrogate parents to her."

"That's a possibility," Booth admitted. "Look, if we have a reason to bring her in for questioning later, we'll have Sweets examine her, okay?"

"That's fine," Bones said. Suddenly, her phone began to ring. "Brennan."

_"It's Cam_," said the voice on the other line. "_We found something. Or, more accurately, we didn't find something._"

"What didn't you find?" Bones asked, her eyebrows knitting together as she thought of all the possibilities. Booth glanced over at his partner and resisted the urge to chuckle. He loved the look she got on her face when she was trying to figure something out.

"_Riley's missing an earring. A very nice earring, by the looks of the one we have. Real diamonds,_" Cam said.

"How much is it worth?" Bones questioned.

"_Well, I said 'diamonds', as in plural, so… we're talking a whole hell of a lot of money,_" Cam replied.

"Thanks, I'll tell Booth," Bones said, and hung up.

Clearing his throat, Booth asked, "You'll tell me what?"

"Riley's missing an earring," Bones told him. "And the one earring we have has multiple diamonds in it."

Booth whistled. "Do you think her boyfriend, what's his name… uh, Tony Ansley, could've given it to her?"

"It seems like the most logical conclusion," Bones shrugged.

"Well, then, let's go find out."

TSTLTSTLTSTL

"Is there something you guys aren't telling me?" Drew asked, looking suspiciously at Kegan and Emma over his milkshake. The three of them were having lunch at the diner, and Kegan and Emma had been playing footsie the whole time.

"No, what makes you say that?" Kegan asked, biting his lip.

"You're a shitty liar, Kee," Drew told him, smirking.

"Give it up, Kegan," Emma told him, rolling her eyes. "Drew's gonna find out sooner or later anyway, so we might as well just tell him." Turning to Drew, she informed him, "Kegan and I are going out."

Drew's smirk turned into a triumphant grin. Turning to Kegan, he pointed and said, "Ha! I knew it! I _told_ you she liked you! Ha!"

"Wait a damn minute," Emma hissed. "You knew he liked me and that I liked him and you didn't tell me?"

"Yeah," Drew said. "I was sworn to secrecy by little Mr. Paranoid over there." He jerked his head at Kegan to indicate that he was referring to him. "Besides, I knew you'd get the nerve up to tell him soon anyway, Em. You're no wimp. Unlike Kegan."

"Shut up," Kegan said angrily, throwing a French fry at Drew and nailing him in the forehead.

Drew made as if to pick up one of his own fries to throw back at Kegan, but Emma loudly said, "Enough. You two are such children."

"Wait," Kegan said. "If you're dating me, and I'm a child… then that makes you a pedophile."

"Ew," Emma said, wrinkling her nose. "Your mind is a scary, scary place. I mean you two are children _mentally_. Not physically." Turning to Drew, she asked, "How'd you know we were keeping something from you, Drew? You're usually as oblivious as a rock."

"Hey, I resent that remark," he retorted.

"More like you resemble that remark," Kegan murmured under his breath.

Choosing to ignore Kegan's remark, he replied, "You two have been playing footsie with me the whole time."


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I still own nothing. Thanks for all the reviews and please keep it up! **

Chapter 5

"Seeley."

Seeley Booth was met by the stern gazes of three teenagers when he stepped through the front door of his apartment "What is this?" he chuckled. "An intervention?"

Emma was sitting in between Drew and Kegan on the couch, and all three of them had extremely serious looks on their faces. "We need to talk, Seeley," Emma said.

"I guess this is an intervention," he muttered, more to himself than to the three teens in front of him.

"We have some news that we don't think you're going to take very well," Drew said. "Well, actually, Kegan and Emma have some news that we don't think you're going to take very well."

Booth's stomach lurched as he began to realize that he had a sinking feeling that he already knew what their news is going to be. Trying his best to ignore this feeling, he asked, "What's the news?"

Kegan took Emma's hand in his and announced, "Emma and I are going out."

Emma read the tightening look on her brother's face as quickly as humanly possible and said, "Before you say anything, Seeley, I want to remind you that I'm sixteen and I'm old enough to choose who I'm going to date. And that I'll be happy with Kegan."

Booth frowned and his hand twitched as he fought the urge to grab his gun and point it directly at Kegan. Kegan bit his lip nervously and squeezed Emma's hand. She squeezed it back, attempting to reassure her boyfriend. Finally, after several long moments of awkward silence, Booth said, "Fine. All right. But there are some rules."

"Like what?" Kegan asked.

"Don't ever keep her out past eleven o'clock," he said, pointing his finger threateningly at the teenage boy before him. "Don't force her into anything."

"I'd never do that," Kegan retorted, looking appalled by the very thought.

"You are not allowed in her room alone with her," he continued. "You are not to touch her anywhere other than her arms and her upper back. Hugs are not allowed to last longer than two seconds-"

"Seeley!" Emma cried, glaring up at her older brother. "I understand that you care for me and this is how you show it, but you're just being ridiculous. How about the first two rules stand?"

"Fine," Booth said, his lips become a thin line. Then he turned back to Kegan. "But if you hurt my little sister in any way, shape, or form, I will take my gun out and shoot you between the eyes."

"Right," Kegan said, nodding his head slowly. With that, Booth stalked into his room.

"Well," Drew said, breaking the silence that followed Booth's exit. "I think that went over really well."

"You think?" Emma said, rolling her eyes and heading for the phone. "Thirty bucks says he's going to Dr. Brennan's house."

"You're on," Kegan said, grinning cockily and shaking hands on it.

Just then, Booth came out of his room and grabbed his jacket. "I'll see you guys later," he said. "I'm going to Bones' house." Pointing at Drew, he said, "Keep an eye on them, okay?"

"Sure, Seeley," Drew said, smiling.

Once the door was closed, Emma grinned and said, "All right, fork it over."

"Damn," Kegan said. "We've only been dating for a day, and you're already sucking out my money."

"Never bet against Emma when the subject is Seeley Booth," Drew advised him. "She knows him better than anybody."

"Don't worry, Kee," Emma told him, taking his hand in hers. "I'll use the thirty bucks you owe me to buy the three of us coffee. Let's go."

TSTLTSTLTSTL

"What are you doing here, Booth?" Bones asked as she let the FBI agent into her apartment.

"I'm sorry for coming unannounced, Bones," Booth replied, "but I was really pissed off and if I didn't get out of my place, I was going to break someone's neck."

"Why? What's wrong?" she asked, as he sat down on her couch. She sat next to him and looked at him curiously.

"Emma is going out with Kegan," Booth replied, rubbing a hand over his face.

"Well, that's great!" Bones said, a smile spreading across her face. "She should be happy."

"What?" Booth asked, looking at her curiously. "How would you know that?"

"Well, when I took her out to dinner like you asked me to, she admitted that she loved Kegan," Bones replied. "Although, I still hold to my belief that love cannot be quantified and is an illogical emotion attached to the need to satisfy certain biological urges."

"Oh, God," Booth said, groaning again. "Do you think she and Kegan have… you know?"

"No, Booth," she told him firmly. "I do not believe so. Your sister did not seem like the type of girl to sleep with someone the day she agrees to date him. Besides, she's Catholic like you, correct?"

"Yeah, but that didn't stop me," he muttered. "Then again, Emma is far more religious than I was as a teenager…"

"I don't understand how such a rational teenage girl could be so religious," Bones said.

"You don't have to be stupid to believe in God, Bones," Booth snapped.

"I'm not saying that," Bones said defensively. "I'm just saying that while you are rational most of the time, you are illogical when it comes to religion."

"Okay, whatever, let's just not have this fight right now," he murmured.

"As for your sister," Bones said, "I know that you are naturally very protective of her, and I know that you don't like the idea of her having a boyfriend, especially one that will be staying in the same apartment of her for the remainder of the summer. But you clearly trust your sister and you had no problem trusting Kegan before all of this. So my advice is to continue trusting both of them. You might not like this whole thing, but isn't your sister's happiness all that matters?"

Sighing, he admitted, "You're right, Bones. For someone who is so bad with people, how could you be right?"

"My brother did what he did because he wanted me to be happy," she told him. "I may not have liked it at the time, but in the long run, I appreciate it. Though he may have done the wrong thing, I appreciate the fact that he did what he thought would make me happy. When she looks back on all of this, Emma should feel the same way."

TSTLTSTLTSTL

"So… you're Tony Ansley. You were Riley's boyfriend?"

Booth and Bones sat across from Tony Ansley in the interrogation room. The boy was about seventeen years of age, and he had the build of a football player. He had blonde hair and striking blue eyes. "That's right," Tony replied. Shaking his head, he said, "God, I just can't get used to the fact that she's gone."

"We're both very sorry for your loss," Booth said softly. "However, there are a few questions we'd like to ask you."

"Sure," Tony said. "Anything to catch the son of a bitch who killed Riley."

"How was your relationship with Riley?" Bones asked. "Did the two of you have any problems?"

"Well, sure, every couple has problems," Tony said. "I mean, don't the two of you?"

Booth and Bones froze. Both refused to make eye contact with the other, and both were blushing a furious red color. "We're not a couple," Booth informed him.

"Sorry, my bad," Tony continued. "But our problems were minor arguments. We never had any substantial problems. I _loved_ her."

"But did she love you?" Booth asked.

"You know, she never said it," Tony admitted. "And I kept hoping that one day she would. I tried to convince myself that she was just shy, but… I think she had her eye on someone else."

"And did that make you angry?" Bones asked.

"Miserable, yes. Depressed, yes. Angry, no," Tony said. Suspiciously, he asked, "Wait, you guys think I killed her don't you?"

"To be frank, Tony, we've deemed it a possibility," Booth told him. "You had means and a motive."

"I didn't kill her, I swear," he said desperately. "I loved her more than anything."

"Well, we'll see," Booth said. "Where were you on the evening of June 3?"

"I was on vacation with my parents in San Francisco," Tony replied. "I saw Riley the day before we left. We just got back three days ago. Riley's best friend Jennifer called me to tell me that she was dead."

TSTLTSTLTSTL

"Hey, are you Booth's little sister?"

Emma turned to face the speaker and recognized the woman as one who worked at the Jeffersonian. "Yeah, I'm Emma Booth," she replied, shaking the woman's hand. "And you are…?"

"I'm Angela Montenegro," the woman told her. "I'm Brennan's best friend."

"Ah," Emma said. "Well, it's nice to meet you Ms. Montenegro."

"Please, call me Angela," Angela told her. "And it's nice to meet you, Emma. Are you here by yourself?"

"Actually, yeah," Emma replied. "I'm picking up lunch for Kegan, Drew, and me."

"You know, I'm sure Booth wouldn't like you being here all by yourself," Angela told her.

"Yeah, well, my brother is also under the impression that I'm going to be killed every time I walk across the street, so I'm not too concerned," Emma grinned.

"Why don't you let me drive you back?" Angela asked, as Emma paid and was handing a plastic bag full of to-go boxes.

"I wouldn't want to be a burden," she said, but Angela shook her head.

"It's no problem, I'm done eating anyway," Angela replied, hopping off of the barstool. "Just as long as you can direct me to Booth's apartment."

"Sure," Emma grinned. "Thanks."

"So…" Angela said, once they were in the car. "You've met Brennan, right?"

"Yeah, I met her the first day I was here," she replied. "I really like her. I want to be a forensic anthropologist one day."

"Well, Brennan is the best of the best," Angela confirmed. "So… have you noticed-"

"The sexual tension between Seeley and Brennan?" Emma asked. "Hell, yeah. It's thick enough to cut with a knife."

"So I'm not the only one, that's good," Angela chuckled. "I've been trying to come up with a way to get them together for years."

"Hmmm," Emma mused. "See, I know that Seeley loves her. That was as obvious as it could possibly be. But Dr. Brennan is harder to read."

"She loves him," Angela said firmly. "Whether or not she believes in love, she loves him."

"All right, I'll trust your judgment on that," she said. "See, Brennan is the very rational type. She doesn't buy into anything unless she can reason it out in her head."

"So what are you saying?" she asked. "That they're never going to get together because love isn't rational?"

"No, that's not what I'm saying," Emma said. "Brennan is an empiricist, she starts with a set of base principles and works from there. She has to form her own base principles. No one else can do that for her. So at some point in time, she will come to her own realization."

"You're a smart kid," Angela commented. "Brennan must like you."

"She seems to," she replied. "She took me out to dinner the other day because Seeley asked her to."

"She'd do anything that man asked her to," Angela said, shaking her head. "Except jump into bed with him."

"Can we not… discuss my brother in bed?" Emma asked, making a face. "Awkward conversation topic, for me, at least."

"Oh, sorry," she chuckled. "I'm sure I can imagine."

"It'll happen one day, Angela," Emma reassured her. "I always believed that when Seeley found the woman that was for him, he would never give up on her, never abandon her. And I know Seeley better than anyone. Brennan is the right woman for him. And he's not going anywhere."

Angela grinned. "That's good to know, because, for a genius, Brennan's pretty dense when it comes to people. It could be a while."


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I own absolutely nothing. Thanks for all the reviews and please keep it up! **

Chapter 6

"Booth."

"Oh, hey, Bones, I got a new idea for the case," Booth ranted, looking up at his partner standing in his office door and smiling. "We should ask the boyfriend if he bought her the earrings that the Squint Squad found on the body-"

"Booth," she interrupted him, biting her lip, but he continued ranting.

"And whoever killed her probably didn't notice while they were killing her that she lost an earring, so it'll probably still be at the scene of the crime-"

"Booth!" she finally cried, glaring at him. "Shut up and listen to me."

"What?" he asked softly, looking shocked at her outburst.

"There's someone at the Jeffersonian to see you," she told him, once again biting her lip.

"Well, who is it?"

"You're not going to like it." She looked genuinely concerned, and she hung her head slightly.

"Just tell me, Bones."

"It's Jared."

TSTLTSTLTSTL

"Jared, what are you doing here?"

"It's nice to see you too, Seeley," Jared said, hugging his brother. Booth reluctantly returned the hug, awkwardly patting his younger brother on the back. "Can't a man visit his older brother?"

"Yes, if that man were any man but you," Booth retorted. "What are you doing here?"

Jared sighed. "You know me far too well, Seeley," he said. "There are some… charges that have been laid against me that I'm going to need your help in order to get dropped."

Booth looked at his younger brother suspiciously. "What kind of charges?" Jared hung his head and muttered something incoherent. "Sorry, what was that?"

"I said, 'sexual harassment,'" Jared repeated, glaring up at Booth.

"Jared!" Booth said scathingly. "Are they justifiable charges? Because if they're not, of course I'll help you get them dropped."

"Well…" Jared said.

"I cannot believe you!" Seeley hissed. "You have no shame. Were you drunk?"

"Yeah, I had been drinking earlier that night," Jared replied. "I didn't mean to, Seel, you've got to help me."

"Yeah," said a voice. "Just like you didn't mean to hit me." Both Booth boys whirled around to face the speaker.

It was Emma.

She was standing a few feet away from the entrance to Dr. Brennan's office, where the Booth boys were arguing, holding bags of take-out. Presumably, she had been bringing over lunch for her brother and his partner. Kegan and Drew were with her, both looking poised for a fight.

"Emma, come here!" Jared said, heading for his little sister, his arms outstretched for a hug.

"No," she snarled, jerking herself backwards.

"Come on, you're not going to give your big brother a hug?" Jared teased, grinning and stepping toward her again.

"Get away from her, Jared," Kegan said, stepping in front of his girlfriend.

"You're not going to touch her again," Drew added, also stepping in front of Emma, both of them closing ranks.

"I'm her brother," he protested. "What are you two little punkasses going to do to keep me from her?"

"You're not my brother," Emma told him forcefully. Turning her glance toward Booth, she said, "Seeley is my brother. You are not my brother."

With that, she stormed out of the room, Drew and Kegan both hot on her heels. Jared snorted and turned to Seeley. "What the hell was that all about?"

TSTLTSTL

"Is Jared still here?"

Kegan hesitantly approached Booth as he left Bones' office, looking wary of how the FBI agent would react. "Unfortunately," Booth replied, running a hand through his hair. "I haven't quite decided how to deal with him."

"What do you mean?" Kegan asked, looking curiously up at the eldest of the Booth children.

"I'm not sure if I should go with gentle but stern or just plain furious," Booth replied. Looking down at Kegan, he said, "I'm jealous of you, actually. It's obvious which reaction you should go with: just plain furious. Because she's your girlfriend, and your best friend. But for me… it's different."

"He's your brother," Kegan said. "I understand. Even though you're beyond mad at him, that doesn't make it any easier for you to be so angry with him."

"Right," Booth said, cocking his head at the teenager. "You're a pretty smart kid, Kegan."

"Well, I've only been Emma's best friend since seventh grade," he replied. "It's about time you noticed." He offered him a grin to show that he was joking, and Booth returned it.

"Look, I'm sorry for being so strict on you about dating my sister," Booth told him. "It's just… I still kind of see her as the little sister I have to protect all the time. I mean, I spent most of my childhood protecting Jared or Emma. You know our father was abusive, right?"

"Yeah, I know," he replied. "Emma doesn't like to talk about it much."

"I started protecting her the day she was brought home from the hospital," Booth said, lowering his voice and leading Kegan back into Bones' office, which was empty. "I was fourteen when she was born, and I was a freshman in high school. It was her first night at home. It was a little past eleven o'clock at night, and I was up finishing a biology assignment. Our father was drunk, as usual. Emma had been crying for about ten minutes, and I could hear our dad yelling at her from the living room. I figured everything was okay, as long as he was in a different room." Booth sighed, rubbing a hand over his face, and continued his story. "But then I heard him moving toward her room. I debated my options for a few seconds, then I ran to the room as well. He had picked her up and he was screaming at her. He was so drunk that he didn't even notice me in the doorway. Then he started shaking her. Back then, I knew nothing about Shaken Baby Syndrome. I had no idea that the blood vessels in her head would detach easily and she would die in about five seconds. But I knew that it could not be good for her, and that he was going to hurt my new baby sister. So I yelled, 'Dad, it was me. I was the one crying.' He was so drunk that it worked. He put her back in her crib and came over to me and started beating me, telling me that I was far too old to cry. I had bruises on my abdomen for weeks." He smiled wryly. "After he stumbled back into the living room, I took Emma from her crib and brought her to my room. When I went to sleep, I laid her on the bed next to me, and I promised her that I would never let our father hurt her. Every night she slept next to me on my bed. If I had plans with my friends, I would either make sure I would be home shortly after she was put to bed or I would take her along. My friends understood, and that's why she's so close to some of them. When I left for college, she took it real hard. She was only four, but she seemed to understand that I was leaving. She cried and cried and cried, and no matter how much I promised to come back and visit frequently, she kept her arms locked around my neck, begging me not to go. It broke my heart to leave her." He shook his head. "Jared never protected her like I did. He was too busy looking out for himself. She took quite a few beatings from Dad, until she got into karate right before middle school. Things changed."

"Right," Kegan said quietly, as he had been silent throughout all of Booth's speech. "She started fighting back, and your dad didn't like that. During our freshman year of high school, Emma talked her into leaving him."

"She did?" Booth said, looking surprised. "No one ever told me that." He smiled crookedly. "That's certainly my little sister, though."

"I never knew that," Kegan said. "That you let her sleep in your room. No wonder she's so close to you."

"Yeah," he said. "She's my little sister, and my best friend."

"I know," Kegan said softly.

After a few moments of comfortable silence, Booth said, "You know what, Kegan? You're a good guy. There's no one else I'd rather have date my younger sister."

TSTLTSTL

"Dr. Brennan, I found something."

Hodgins stood in the doorway of Brennan's office, looking as excited as he could possibly be. "What is it?" she asked, glancing up from her computer screen.

He walked toward her, file in hand, and said, "Since we found evidence of a struggle, but no solid cause of death, I had a sudden inspiration. I took a swab from the mouth of the victim shortly before the bones were cleaned, and I discovered that she was killed my carbon monoxide poisoning."

"Good job, Hodgins," she told him. "However, it would be relatively easy to kill someone with carbon monoxide, all you really need is a car and a garage."

Hodgins held up his hand to interrupt her. "I'm not done yet. She was killed by _pure_ carbon monoxide."

"Meaning that she wasn't breathing in atmospheric air," Brennan said slowly. "She was just breathing in pure carbon monoxide." She bit her lip, thinking hard. "Where could someone get pure carbon monoxide?"

"I have no idea," Hodgins said.

Just then, Brennan's cell phone rang. "Sorry, you'll have to excuse me, Hodgins," she said. He nodded and left. Answering her phone, she said, "Brennan."

"_Hey, Bones. It's Booth_."

"Hi, Booth," she said into the phone. "What's going on?"

"_I talked to Tony Ansley again, Riley's boyfriend,_" he told her.

"And…?" she asked, waiting for him to finish whatever he had to tell her.

"_He says that he didn't buy the earrings for Riley,_" he said.

"Well where did she get them from then?" Bones asked. "Perhaps her parents gave them to her, to make up for being so strict on her or to make up for their distant relationship."

"_Yeah, I thought of that too,_" he replied. "_I already talked to the parents; no such luck. They didn't buy the earrings for her, or so they say. But as far as I can tell, they would have no reason to lie about it._"

"Would Tony have a reason to?" she asked.

"_None that I can think of,_" he said, "_but hey- murderers are surprising me more and more everyday._"

"Booth," she said suddenly, working out the details in her head. "What if she stole them?"

"_That would be motive for murder._"

TSTLTSTL

"Kegan, come on, tell me where we're going!"

Emma begged her boyfriend in the backseat of the cab at almost ten o'clock that night, but he merely grinned and shook his head. "I'm not going to ruin the surprise for you, Em," he told her firmly.

"Can you at least tell me what suddenly made you decide to take me out tonight?" she asked. "You kind of sprung this on Seeley. I got the impression that he wanted to be there to monitor and censor every moment of our first date."

"Don't worry about Seeley," he told her. "I talked to him, and we're cool." Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair and said, "As for what brought this on all of a sudden, I figured with Jared showing up out of the blue… you could use a distraction."

She grimaced and grinned. "Thanks," she told him, pecking him on the cheek. Finally, the cab stopped, and she jumped out of the car excitedly. "This is amazing, Kee!"

"I thought you'd like it," he said, taking her hand in his and squeezing it. They were at the Lincoln Memorial, and the lights were shining off of the Reflecting Pool.

"It's beautiful," she told him, glancing up at him. "Thank you."

"It's no problem," he shrugged and pulled her into a hug. "You had a rough day. It was the least I could do."

Grinning, she lifted her head so that she could kiss him on the lips, her tongue slowly slipping into his mouth so that he could taste the sweetness of her.

Kegan had never been so happy in his life.


End file.
